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Audio Indicators Are A Critical Part Of The System

Avilution is creating innovative panels for GA airplanes, and while a lot of attention is paid to the visual aspect of how flight data is presented, Avilution founder Mark Spencer says that audio cues are also an important part of the system.

One of the places where an audio alert can be particularly helpful is in indicating angle of attack (AOA), Spencer said. As the AOA increases, a sound similar to a kazoo begins, and increases in both volume and pitch as the airplane gets closer to a stall.

The Avilution XFS system also uses an audio cue to represent proximity over the runway. The audio makes the experience of the landing flare the same for any airplane in which it is installed, Spencer said. The altitude call-outs are similar to those used in airliners until the plane is about 30 feet above the runway, he said, at which point the voice commands are supplemented by a tone that beeps faster the closer the airplane is to the runway.

Spencer said that the system uses a commercially off-the-shelf LiDAR available for a few hundred dollars to measure the altitude of the aircraft.

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